


two steps behind

by literato



Series: there's no need to rush [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, I guess?? Kinda, M/M, Pining, highschool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 06:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10871049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literato/pseuds/literato
Summary: “I don’t love you anymore; people change.”Or a high school au where Louis loses interest in Harry after a one-year relationship and begs Harry to take him back months after.





	two steps behind

**Author's Note:**

> hiii i'm back with another one lol
> 
> i hope you all enjoy reading this one ❤

  
_“Louis, this is Harry, and Harry this is Louis.” Zayn smiled, patting his mate in the back. When Louis didn’t speak, he frowned, “Come on, speak!”_

_“I uh…” Louis blushed, looking up at the curly lad, “Hi.”_

_Harry giggled, and Louis’ smitten, “Hi, I’m Harry.”_

_“Louis.” Louis grinned, offering his hand to Harry, and the latter smiled back and shook hands with him._

“He’s acting weird lately.” Harry nervously fidgets with his fingers, twisting his lock all over before he finally opens his locker.

“Define weird, please.” Liam says, flipping through his notebook.

“I don’t know, he...” Harry clears his throat, because it’s a long fucking story, “It’s been going around for weeks now and he’s just not… it feels like he’s not comfortable around me anymore. He’s always busy and –at least that’s what he says to me- and we haven’t gone out since last month.”

“Is that all?” Liam asks again, “I mean, he could just be feeling um… different.”

“Different? Liam, I’d understand it if we just started dating last month or last week, we’d all get awkward, I would understand that, but it’s past one year already. One year and two months, to be exact, and he’s acting like he doesn’t care anymore.” Harry huffs, shoving his books into his locker, “He doesn’t even approach me anymore, and if I was the one who did, he’d act like he’s forcing himself to talk to me.” Which is frighteningly, possibly, true.

_“Babe, what’s wrong? We hardly go out anymore.” Harry huffed through the phone, scanning his book for a test tomorrow._

_“Harry, we’re in the middle of an exam week.” Louis sighed, and Harry heard shuffling, “We need to focus so we don’t get held back for graduation.”_

_“You were acting like this since last week!” Harry pointed out, “And I just miss you.”_

_“Stop being so clingy.” Louis groaned, “We see each other in school every day.”_

_Harry scoffed, “You don’t talk to me! At all! And every time we’re together, you’re always so quiet. You know if you have a problem, anything, Louis, you know I’ll always be here. You just need to open up to me.”_

_“I…” Louis breathed out, “I’m alright… I’m just…overreacting. I’m sorry.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“Sure.”_

“Maybe he has a problem?” Liam suggests, “Like family problems, financial problems, school problems?”

“He doesn’t talk about it to me.” Harry murmurs, a wave of sadness washing over him, “He doesn’t call, he texts sometimes and I just… I don’t know.”

“Aw, Haz. It’ll all work out.” Liam reaches out to pat him in the shoulder,”Just talk to him, yeah?”

“I want to, I really want to, Liam. It’s just... I think he’s the one who doesn’t want me to.” Harry shakes his head.

“He’ll come to his senses.” Liam nods, “You two can’t end this now. You’re just starting to commit to each other.”

“Commitment.” Harry murmurs. The word hurts so much right now.

_“Hey, Harry.” Louis poked him with the end of his stick, and the curly lad batted him away with a light giggle, his mouth still full of the gooey marshmallow, “What- stop poking me-“_

_“I love you.” Louis said, dazed and this fond sitting in his eyes is hard to amount to anything._

_“What?” Harry’s eyes widened, cheeks slightly bloated out as he squeaked._

_“I love you.” Louis chuckled as Harry choked suddenly, scrambling for the bottle of water and downing half of it. When the lad’s recollected himself, he smacked Louis on the arm, “Don’t surprise me like that!”_

_Louis only laughed, and he leaned in to cup his cheeks and connect their lips in a chaste kiss._

Both of them walk to class with Harry pocketing his hands and gaze on the floor. He’s overthinking, he does that sometimes. Perhaps he just need to not be afraid anymore and talk to Louis so they can figure this all out and possibly go back to normal.

When Harry sits on his seat, he just waits for the seat next to him to be taken by Louis, because that seems to be the only contact that they make for the rest of the day. Liam keeps glancing back on Harry, either mouthing if he’s okay or throwing him a thumbs-up to which Harry nods to. Those nods are believable enough (it’s not).

Two minutes before the class starts, Louis enters the room. Harry’s breath hitches, and he forces himself to look down on his desk. Louis’ dressed in this shirt which is practically similar to his other shirts. Thankfully, thank the Lord, he sits right next to Harry. He messes with his hair a bit, throwing them into a fringe as usual. What isn’t usual is the way he turns towards Harry and leans down to rest his forehead on the lad’s shoulder. It’s weird, and Harry saddens at the fact that this simple action makes Harry feel uncomfortable because it’s been days since Louis was the first one to make contact with him.

Louis stays like that for the whole two minutes. It’s a little tough on the angle, Harry observes, but Louis manages it. As the teacher comes in, however, Louis straightens up and doesn’t even give Harry a second glance. It kind of kills him.

Harry doesn’t like any of his classes; he doesn’t like listening to the teachers’ babbles and talks about random people and numbers and terminologies. Louis’ right beside him and he’s distracted. An hour passes; sixty minutes full of chatters –either by the teacher or the students-, groans, a fifteen-minute short film about the history of society, and during those sixty minutes, both Louis and Harry stay silent in their seats.

At the end of the class, the teacher finally dismisses them, and as Harry quickly shoves his notebook into his bag, Louis clears his throat and speaks up, “Harry.”

Harry tenses and he stands up to look at Louis, “Hi.” He’s pathetic.

  
“Come with me, yeah?” Louis says, turning around and leaving the room. Harry stares at his back for a couple of seconds before he’s barely zipping up his bag to jog after Louis.

Still feeling a twinge of awkwardness, Harry stays behind Louis as the lad leads them away. It’s lunch break and every one’s out and scattering themselves around school. Harry feels quite scared because even though they’re together, they’re not talking and fuck, he wants this phase to be over.

Louis stops on the school buses’ parking lot, getting between two of the buses and finally turning around to face Harry. The curly lad bites the bottom of his lip, “What is it?”

Louis doesn’t even pause. He doesn’t waste a single fucking second and single beat before he answers, “I want to break up.”

Harry’s eyes widen, and he takes a step back as if that whole sentence has made a physical impact on him. It does. He feels his chest clench at the emotion he’s feeling, overwhelming and too much. He tries to push words out of his mouth, but he fish mouths and pathetically whimpers out, “What?”

Louis shrugs, “I want to break up.” He says it so casually, and that alone drives knives into Harry.

“Why?” Harry sucks in a deep breath.

“I don’t love you anymore.” Louis says, and his eyebrows knits in this expression that Harry doesn’t bother identifying, “People change.”

Harry shakes his head, “You’re fucked up. You-“ He bites his tongue, “You can’t spend a year with me only to throw it away like nothing.”

“It was a mistake.” Louis clarifies, “Just be glad that I didn’t lead you on longer.”

“Fuck you.” Harry spits, “Fuck you, Louis. Fuck you.”

Louis doesn’t act any signs or hints of offense, but he shoots back twice as harsh, “Say what you want, Harry but I said what I want and I’m ending us so you won’t have to suffer any longer with me because I also can’t stay with someone who I can’t love.”

Harry pushes him back, shoves him with a firm force. He doesn’t say anything else before he turns around and walks away from the buses. He feels the tears; he feels it making their way out of his eyes and he wipes them angrily before they can roll down his cheeks.

He wants to go home. He still has two hours of school left but he wants to go home. He’d go straight to his room and lock himself up for days. He’d never come out and show himself to the world. He just wants that.

  
When he locks himself inside a little restroom cubicle, he put down the toilet lid and sits there with his head in his hands. He cries, not quite silently. The other two boys from the outside hear it clearly, but they don’t bother asking as they quickly exit the room. Harry’s thankful. 

  
Harry’s whole body rocks with his sobs. He doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know what he wants to do. He’s so lost and he’s so scared. He plans to spend his whole lunch period in the bathroom, but fifteen minutes later, a voice called out, “Harry, are you here?”

Harry stays quiet; he should be awarded for cowardice. And he jumps when there’s a knock on the door, “Harry, I know you’re there. It’s me, Liam.”

Harry forces himself to stand up, and his butt hurt from all the sitting. It all goes to the back of his mind when he opens the door, because he bursts into tears and Liam accepts him easily, opening his arms as he engulfs Harry in a big, comforting hug, “Oh Harry, what happened?”

Harry shakes his head; he doesn’t know what to do, but he certainly doesn’t want to talk about it. But Liam’s soothing him and he’s very understanding, “Okay, okay. We won’t talk about it, but we still have at least thirty minutes of lunch so you need to eat.”

“No, no. I don’t want to go out there.” Harry sobs, his voice weak and cracking.

“Fuck.” Liam curses, because his best friend is hurt, and he knows exactly who did it, “What did Louis do to you?”

And Harry’s crying even harder now, so Liam doesn’t talk about it.

~○~

“Harry?” Anne asks from the couch, her eyebrows knitted as Harry walks straight up to his room without any word, without any kiss for his mum.

“Yeah?” Harry asks, stopping midway on the stairs.

“Are you alright, honey?”

“Yeah, I’m…” Harry has to clear his throat, “I’m okay, mum. Just … stressful day.”

“Okay, if something’s wrong, you can talk to me.”

“Thank you, mum.” Harry nods before he continues to make his slow journey to his room. He slams his door shut and locks it tight. He slips off his shoes and drops his bag. He doesn’t even change out of his clothes into fresh ones before he’s collapsing to the bed. He tries his hard to make his mind blank, his face void of emotions. He doesn’t want to replay what happened but it’s kind of hard when he’s just staring at the wall and sulking.

His mind unbelievably has a mind of its own, and when Harry tries to shut himself down, it starts back up again. He’s hopeless and his own self even reminds himself how pathetic he is, really. He stands up and grabs fresh and more comfortable clothes from his closet. He goes to the bathroom inside his room and strips off, shoving his clothes into his loaded hamper. He frowns, though, because on top of that hamper is one of Louis’ shirt, and he rolls his eyes. He wraps a towel around his waist before he grabs the shirt and he brings it with him as he goes downstairs where his mother is lounging in the couch with her favorite cook book.

“Oh.” She says as she sees Harry, “What is it, honey?”

“I uh…” Harry shows her the balled up shirt, “Just want to burn this.”

“Uh..” She hesitates at the strange request, “I can do it for you.”

“I’d love that. Thank you.” He puts down the shirt before he moves up the stairs and back into his own bathroom.

Anne takes the shirt and she moves to the kitchen with it with a frown on her face. Meanwhile, Harry spends twenty mourning minutes in the shower. He lathers himself efficiently and he makes sure he doesn’t miss a single spot. He rinses himself to get rid of his sweat, his smell and his disgusting aura. After his shower, he dries himself and dresses up in a pair of sweatpants and a shirt.

As he makes his way downstairs, he goes for the kitchen to have some sandwich and grab a glass of orange juice. He sees a note by the fridge, and he reads it; _Gone out with a friend, love but it won’t be long. I’ll cook dinner, alright? Xx_

He crumples the paper out and he walks to the bin to throw it out, but as he does so, he sees the familiar shirt again. The obnoxious skull and … and emo prints on it are just too Louis to bear with. So he snatches it up from the bin and walks out to the back porch. He lays it down on a small pile of leaves before he walks to their little shed to grab their bottle of gasoline and a lighter. The throws an adequate amount of the liquid onto the leaves –the shirt is bathing on it- and he lights it up with the lighter. He steps back to see them ignite with fire, the crackling starting up. He gazes down at it, watching as the shirt burn in agony. He tears up slightly, very slightly, and he blames it on the heat.

He goes back inside after the fire has settled down. He goes to the counter where he left his sandwich, but all he sees is their cat, Dusty, munching on the bread. “Hey!” Harry plucks the cat off his food and into the floor where he lands neatly on his feet and his tail waving high and threatening.

Harry pouts at the sandwich, and he just throws it to the bin. He stares at the orange juice, dubious. He has no idea if Dusty have put his tongue on it so he dumps it on the sink with the glass. He wears a frown as he settles on the couch, turning the tv on. This isn’t just his day. He settles for some tv game show with the audience obviously too scripted.  
He watches it for five minutes before he decides he should just watch reruns of The Walking Dead. Two hours later, he’s still in the same position, pliant against the cushions and staring at the television, but he’s not watching the show.

This day has been interesting. He woke up late for school, he texted Louis a good morning text with twelve kisses and got nothing back, he attended his first hour late which resulted to him having detention after class (double detention since he ditched another today), during break he didn’t see Louis but saw him on his next class with his head down and sleeping, during lunch he confronted Liam about how it’s been hours and he and Louis have not spoken a single literal word to each other, and at the same time, Louis broke up with him.

It’s a very interesting, flawlessly heart-breaking day.

He cries. It’s so sudden that it surprises him, too. He bites into the cushion his grandmother sewed for him and gets it all dirty with snot and salty, bitter tears. He lets it all out, because fuck, it hurt. It hurts so much and he’s crying like a coward –even though he is—.

No one can’t blame him. Girls aren’t the only one who can cry during breakups. Crying is free range, and Harry’s only crying because of a boy he loves; a boy who happens to be his first boyfriend and probably the last, a boy who made Harry cry and laugh and smile like an idiot all at the same time, a boy he spent a year with in a very meaningful relationship. He’s only crying because of that. Just a minor thing.

And he cries harder because Louis thinks that their relationship was just a minor, basic thing; opposite of what Harry thought they were. When Louis broke up with him, it was more like he dumped Harry –dumped him in a pile of dirt full of misery and wrote his name on a list of Louis’ exes. Louis is so important to him and it’s like Harry’s not in the same road when it comes to Louis. It’s a year for fuck’s sake, and it’s all thrown to the wind with their memories and inside jokes and virginities.

Virginities— _fuck_ , it’s so unbelievable that Harry gave his virgin arse up three months into their relationship. He remembers it clear as day and Louis’ the one who actually brought it up. Now Harry knows his use. Knew – fuck me.

What a fucking ass wipe, a fucking player with a huge ass and a huge cock but a small-as-fuck heart he doesn’t know how to use.

He remembers to keep that in mind in school the day after.

-~○~

Harry tries to stay in the background for a few days, probably let everyone get to the fact that he and Louis are perfectly single and not anymore in a relationship. That is until he sits in his assigned seat in History when Louis comes in with all his friends trailed behind him like a chain of douchebags and assholes. Harry sinks in his seat even more. He even takes his notebook out to write down some shit.

Louis is loud, always have been in every place and situation he can be. It’s either he’s shouting or laughing or moaning. Right now he’s laughing with his friends in the corner and he’s got those crinkly eyes Harry loved so much. Still do.

Liam comes in at the right time, because while Harry is continuously being obliviously tortured by Louis’ happy everything, he comes into the room and sits right next to Harry, offering him a smile, “Hey.”

Harry manages to smile back, “Hi.”

“You alright?” Liam asks worriedly.

“Of course.” Harry shrugs, “He’s okay so why can’t I be?”

Liam sighs and he runs a hand through his hair, “Alright, let’s go someplace else. We have like fifteen more minutes before Mr. Percy comes in.” Liam manages to get Harry out of his seat and they’re now walking on the filled hallway. As soon as they reach somewhere outside the field, Liam asks, “Okay, so what’s it going to be?”

“What?” Harry chuckles, “I’m not going to cry, if that’s what you’re thinking. I can’t and don’t want to force myself into someone who isn’t even worth my time. You said that to me.” He takes a deep breath and gazes up at the sky, “I already burned his shirt yesterday so…” Harry shrugs, “It’s really over a-and…” His hands fly to his face as he hiccups out a sob, “Fuck…”

“Hey, hey.” Liam grasps his wrists, “It’s alright, but crying too much can get you dehydrated and we don’t want that.”

Harry sniffles, “Is that even true?”

“I don’t know.” Liam says truthfully, a small playful smile settling on his face, “But we’ve got at least a few more minutes to get back. I know for sure that everyone will judge you because it’s pretty obvious that you’ve cried. Your eyes are already red.”

“Sorry.” Harry wipes his eyes with his sleeves, “Fresh wound.”

“I know.” Liam pats his back and he keeps his hand there until they enter the room. Harry really plans on cutting class and going straight home, but it doesn’t work that way and he doesn’t want to keep himself from reality. He can’t keep having high expectations.

As Harry takes a seat and scrubs his eyes, he hears someone chuckle behind him. Class starts, and Harry thinks, it’s going to be a long day.

~○~

It’s lunch time, and it isn’t exactly going good.

Harry’s sitting with Liam, the usual, and he’s picking at his poorly made pasta when someone steps at their table. Both of them look up, and Harry suddenly just wants to turn small. It’s impossible with his gigantic figure.

“Hi.” Louis says. He’s staring at Harry and Harry absolutely misses and despises those blue eyes.

Liam scowls, however, “What is it?”

“I just want to know how he is.” Louis says, defending himself.

“It’s been a day.” Harry speaks. He bravely looks up at Louis, “Give me a fucking break.”

“I’m just concerned.”

Harry scoffs, “It’s like you don’t even know what happened.”

“I do know. Stop looking at me like I’m a conceited asshole.” Louis frowns and Harry’s gut twists like it used to when they were fighting, “We were best friends before we even started dating.”

“Yeah, well, our friendship ended when our relationship did, as well.” Harry shrugs, “I would walk away right now if I were you.”

“I’m trying to put us back from where we were—“

Harry stands up, almost towering at Louis, “Stop thinking like there’s something to fix here because there isn’t. You ended us and no, you can’t ask me for anything anymore because once in my life, I gave you my everything and you just threw it all away.”

As Harry continues to walk away with the nosy eyes staring at him, Liam catches up to him, murmuring, “Okay, so…?”

Harry only stares ahead.

~○~

Harry manages to keep himself together for a few days, only letting his anger and pain out to his stupid pathetic pillow, but he’s fine. They’re got a new paper for History anyway, so he has something to distract him. Right now, he’s in the science lab for duh, science class, and they’re having this experiment. Harry’s not enjoying it. He hates having to work with chemicals. He hates chemistry.

They’re picking partners and Harry gets someone named Sam Anderson. Liam gets fucking Zayn and Harry wishes Zayn never existed or even met him just because he was the one who set Louis up with him. The teacher gives them instructions; Harry can’t understand a thing.

“Hey, um…” He speaks at his partner. He hasn’t seen him before, but Harry never really cared about strange faces before, “I don’t understand anything.”

The lad makes a face, “Who says I do, too?”

Harry likes him.

By the end of the period, Harry’s asking Sam for lunch and Liam’s raised eyebrow probably means questions. His questions doesn’t come out until lunch when Sam’s still lining up. Harry tries not to meet Liam’s gaze as he sits down across from him.

Liam, though, opens it up, “You met somebody?”

Harry sighs, “Yes, Liam.” Yes, I met somebody and please don’t make such a big deal about it.

“What’s his name?” Liam probably notices his own interrogating tone and clears his throat, “Sorry, couldn’t help it. What’s his name?” He asks with more curiosity than challenge.

“Sam.” Harry answers, “And he’s really friendly.”

“I kinda saw that earlier in the lab.” Liam shrugs, “He’s cool, yeah?”  
As soon as Harry nods, Sam’s walking over to them, pausing as he stands at the end of it, “Um… can I?”

“Sure, mate.” Liam scoots to the next chair to give Sam his seat. He takes it gratefully, flashing Harry a bright smile before he offers a handshake to Liam, “I’m Sam. I met Harry earlier in Chemistry.”

Liam accepts it, “Nice to meet you.”

~○~

Harry hates AP Lit. The class is boring and Louis’ sitting there by the door. What happened a few days ago can’t leave his head. What he said definitely threw a slap at him and now realization’s dawning on him. He knew he tried his best to be the best boyfriend he could be and judging from Liam’s and Sam’s sassy complains about how ‘in love they were’, Harry guesses he is.

The problem is; he could’ve done… too much.

  
Harry shakes his head and brushes his fringe off his forehead. He doesn’t need this right now. As the teacher comes in, Sam’s trailing behind him before breaking away to sit on a vacant seat, behind Harry. As he walks by, though, he pats Harry’s arm gently with a smile. Harry smiles back at him.

~○~

Zayn’s patting annoyingly at Louis’ arm, and the latter hisses at him, “What the hell, mate?”

Zayn slowly raises his eyebrows, “What’s with the sour attitude? You want a smoke or something?”

Louis forgets why he’s pissed off in the first place and shakes his head, “Nothing.”

Zayn turns his head away to scan the room, his brown eyes squinting as he sees something. He looks at Nick at the very back of the class. The dick’s sleeping and he’s isn’t causing trouble so Zayn lets it go. As he looks around more, he snickers loudly as he finds the best guess. He whips back to his friend and slaps a hand at the back of his side, “You bitch!”

Louis yelps at the hit and grabs at his neck, looking back, “What was that for?!”

Zayn snorts at his face, “I thought you didn’t want him anymore? Why are you acting like such a jealous boyfriend?”

Louis scowls, “What are you even talking about?”

Zayn grabs his sleeve and turns him around in his seat, subtly flicking his head towards Harry’s direction where the lad’s chatting happily at the new kid. Zayns watches, waits for his friend’s eyes to show some emotion, but it’s blank and empty.

Louis looks back at him, “So?”

“Aren’t you a little bit affected?” Zayn asks.

Louis sighs, “We broke up. I broke us up. I wouldn’t break us up if I still care.”

“Even as a best friend?”

Louis turns back as he says, “Our friendship ended long time ago.”

Zayn rests his cheek on his palm, “It makes me think I’m a bad wingman.”

Louis’ patience is slowly decreasing, but he answers it anyway, “You’re not, Z. And well, you’re kind of a wingman…? We became the best of friends first before getting together.”

“I still introduced you two. It still counts.”

“Don’t stress yourself, mate.” Louis assures, “My relationship with Harry has been amazing and I’d never trade it for anything in the world.”

“Then why is he flirting with someone else and you not caring?” Zayn almost scoffs because at some point in his life, he still likes Harry and he sure does hell like him for his bestfriend.

Louis shrugs, “People change.” He hears Zayn become quiet, and he’s about to be thankful that the conversation ended but then Zayn was saying,

“That’s always your excuse.”

~○~

Sam’s great from what Harry concluded these past few weeks. He’s friendly, smart, and funny. He plays football and he’s extremely great in guitar. He’s already friends with Liam and three of them get along.

Somehow, they provide some sort of distraction from Louis. It’s easier to say than do, isn’t it? Harry’s trying so hard. He sees Louis every day and sometimes Jay comes over to hang out with his mum. The fact that their mums still get alone makes Harry hope, and he doesn’t even want hope in something that’s already dead.

“How long have you guys been dating?” Sam asks quietly, “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Um…” Harry gulps but he chooses just to suck it up, “About a year.”

“Ah.” Sam nods, flipping his book elsewhere, “Was he a good boyfriend?”

Harry shrugs. He meets Sam’s eyes; _he was amazing. He asked me out during Fridays and stay over until Saturday where we’d mostly have the house in our own, cooking breakfast, tuning the stereo up, even cleaning. We’d sit on the couch when both our mums would be cooking and chatting in the kitchen. His first meal he made for me was chicken with parma ham and he nearly burned his house down because of it but I loved every single minute of it. Once, we went skinny dipping and I got sick because of the cold and had to stay home for a few days. On the second day, he went to me with chocolate and soup and movies and he sang me to sleep. We went to a party with Liam and Zayn once and he clung to me like a koala the whole time because he didn’t want anyone else dragging me away from him. Everyday, we went to and from school together with our hands held tight and swinging. We’d be standing or sitting on the bus and we’d take turns walking each other home. It’s sad because it’s all now over. We went home to ourselves.I didn’t have his hand to hold._

“Yeah.” Harry nods, “Yeah, he was.”

“Then he broke up with you without any reason.” Sam mutters, but as soon as he does he’s apologizing, “I’m sorry. I just heard these people whispering about it in the hallway—“

“He said he didn’t love me anymore.” Harry answers with pursed lips, weakly shrugging as he casually twirls his pen around in his fingers, “I don’t have any say in that, so… well, we let each other go.”

“Hey,” Sam nudges him with a smile, “For the record, I think you’re better off without him.”

Harry tries to smile himself, but he’s admitting himself a defeat as he says, “I wish I can believe that, too.”

~○~

It’s about a month and a half when something absolutely strange happens. Harry’s all pumped up to just lay in bed and possibly read or sleep. It’s Friday and no classes tomorrow so he’s got his all weekend planned. He’s supposed to be a couch potato by Saturday and a productive non-procrastinator on Sunday. He’s got it all planned.

Except.

Harry’s wearing headphones, Coldplay’s a good band, and he’s got his hands in his pockets. Liam’s supposed to come with him today to finish their homework (“Don’t you want to finish it today? So we’re all done by the weekend?” “I just want to rest, mate.”) Liam haven’t given up by then, but he’s called in by his mum because of a sudden dinner party so bye Liam.

Harry’s footsteps are light and slightly bouncy. The path he’s walking in are quiet and some children are playing outside, unattended by their parents. Harry smiles and he’s suddenly being tugged backwards harshly.

“What the—“ He’s supposed to scream but he sees a very familiar face right in front of him. He splutters, blinks before he confusedly says, “Hi?” He arranges his collar awkwardly before unplugging his headphones from his ears.

Louis’ standing in front of him. He’s wearing a white shirt with everyone’s cartoon childhood all around it and he’s got his bag on. Louis smiles at him, seemingly shy, “Hey.”

Harry subtly glances behind him, advantage to his height, before he says again, “Do you need something?”

“No, I just..” Louis shrugs, “I saw you walking and I just wanted to walk along.”

“…” Harry nods slowly, “Okay.” He turns back, closing his eyes for a few moments before resuming his walk. Just a few more blocks, not that far.

Louis catches up to him, “So how’ve you been?”

Harry purses his lips, “Fine.” And he tacks on, “Busy.”

“Ah,” Louis chuckles, “Mr. Nosgowitz gave some shit. It’s not even the finals for fuck’s sake.”

Harry winces at Louis’ words; cursing is never really fancied by Harry. Louis notices this and his face falls, “Sorry. Couldn’t help it.”

“It’s fine.” Harry says, “How… how about you?”

“I’m okay, I guess.” Louis answers, “Bit … unsettled, if I may say.”

“Unsettled?”

“I wanted to talk to you.” Louis suddenly says and Harry feels woozy.

“Sure.” Harry answers eventually but the surprise doesn’t go away, “About what?”

“I was being an asshole to you.” Louis shakes his head like he’s regretting it, “I shouldn’t have broken it up in the worst possible way ever. I don’t want you to think that I’m a douche.”

Harry purses his lips. It’s the past so they shouldn’t dwell on it more, “I’ve got more proof of you being the sweetest person ever than you being a douche, so you’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” Louis asks, eyebrows furrowed, “I didn’t want us to end in such a bad way—“

“Louis.” Harry cuts him off and Louis stops walking, so Harry follows, “It’s in the past.” He says his thoughts outloud.

“That’s absolutely right, and I apologize.”

Harry nods and… well, he feels lighter, finally.

~○~

Louis shows up in school with a girl on his arm. Harry has always been aware that Louis’ bi and always had the fear of Louis replacing him for a girl (or anyone really.) Now, he just remembers that fear used to live in him.

Liam, leaning on the locker beside Harry’s, slowly asks him, “Are you… okay?”

Harry shrugs, frowning in confusion genuinely, “Yeah, of course.”

“Are you sure?” Liam raises an eyebrow and Harry knows what he’s talking about.

Harry chuckles at him, “Liam, it’s been like two months. I move on faster than you and I was the one who was in the relationship.”

“Alright alright.” Liam raises his hands in playful surrender, “That’s acceptable. I’m..—I’m happy.”

~○~

It becomes even crazier. It’s not even a week and people are acting like paparazzis with Harry as their target. It isn’t a huge thing, but it is a thing. Everything’s ridiculous at the moment.

“Hey, when you broke up with that ex of yours, how fast did you move on?” Harry randomly asks one day through the phone, “I hated that prick, by the way.”

From the other line, Gemma laughs, “Having trouble moving on from your ex? We were talking about shopping just a second ago.”

“I have completely moved on, thank you very much.” Harry says. He’s already so confident about it, “Just answer me.” He’s not being demanding, really, he’s just curious. As hell.

Gemma hums and then papers are rustling around, “I’m doing an important paper here and you’re asking me about my ex.”

“Tell me.”

“Long enough.” Gemma answers, “It took me long enough to get him out of my head.”

“Months?” Harry continues to interrogate, “One month?”

His sister sighs. She’s obviously done with his shit right now. Harry knows she knows what Harry’s trying to imply. She’s known Louis since they were still bestfriends. Those two were the ultimate partner in teasing Harry, “One month means infatuation. You can’t move on from someone you truly love in such a short time.”

“Is that…” Harry can feel himself faltering, quite, “Is that true? No— Is that a fact? Like scientifically proven or .. or something?”

“It really depends on the person, Haz, but I believe what I just said. ” Gemma states, “I’m a lawyer, not a psychologist.”

Harry doesn’t stop himself, “So you think Louis and I were just infatuated?”

“Why? Did either of you move on in just one month?” Gemma says, “Oh baby brother. I told you, you were too young to get into a relationship. Louis wasn’t so bad, though.”

“I’m almost 18.” Harry sighs. He is definitely in his own mind right now.  
“You didn’t answer my first question.”

“Both of us did.” Harry answers but the truth is, he doesn’t really know when he thought he did.

“Haz, I love you,” Harry mentally prepares himself. His sister always gives the brutal but … well, brutal advices, “But you wouldn’t be asking if you already did.”

Harry winces, “So you’re saying that I haven’t moved on yet?”

“It depends on you, Harry. I’ve said it a handful times.” She chuckles,”It’s not on me, or not on Louis, not on anyone.” There’s a few rustling sounds and Harry figures that she’s really that busy, “We’ve been talking for quite a while. I have to go.”

“That’s alright, Gem. I love you.” Harry says, “Don’t fail for me, and for mum.”

“Wait, wait, speaking of mum,” Gemma suddenly cuts off their goodbye, “Her birthday’s coming up. Do you have any ideas for her gift?”

“A tracksuit can do.” Harry wonders. His mother always wear tracksuits whenever she can but when she dresses up, oh, you won’t believe she’s Harry Styles’ mother, “Or an apron.”

“So original.” Gemma laughs, “Nothing too expensive for you little bro, alright?”

Harry murmurs, “I have my own budget.”

“Still.” Gemma insists, “I’m warning you. Just buy her a simple gift, okay? Now I really have to go. Bye, love you.” She doesn’t even let Harry speak his goodbye before she hangs up again. He puts his phone on his desk before he stands up. He does a couple of paces around the room, just to stretch a few muscles here and there before he decides to watch his mum cook dinner.

In the kitchen, Anne’s busy and alone. The telly in the livingroom is loud enough to reach the kitchen. Robin’s still at work; being a successful business really does catch your time.  Harry hops up on the counter and plops down, “Hi, mum.”

She looks at her son and raises an eyebrow, “What makes you come here?”

“Nothing!” Harry exclaims, laughing, “Yeah, well, your birthday’s coming up. I just thought it’d be nice to ask what you want for it.”

“That’s sweet.” Anne smiles, “But you can be a personal cook for my party.”

Harry rolls his eyes, laughing. Of course that would be his mother’s offer, out of all things, “I will not cook for your… amigas and let them criticize my cooking skills. And.. wouldn’t you want to cook for them?”

“Your cooking is just as good as mine.”

Harry raises an eyebrow in suspicion, “I have a feeling you’re just saying that to get me to agree.” Then Anne puts her hand on her hip, a dangerous sign that’s Harry’s walking on thin ice, and the teenager raises his hands and hops off the counter and onto his feet, “Forget I said that!”

“Good.” Anne grins, “It’s settled, then.”

~○~

For the past hour, Harry’s been complimented and fonded at by his mother’s friends passing by the kitchen. It’s been busy. Right after he came home from school, he threw all of his shit to his bed before he went down the stairs to start. The dishes aren’t that complicated really; Harry knew his mum didn’t intentionally make him cook something for first class people, and Harry’s ‘bout to finish.

It’s all going smoothly, really. Harry’s ready to go to his room, take a shower and just relax on his bed while listening to his (odd) music. It’s not until he’s wiping sauce on his apron when someone steps in and leans on the counter, “Hi.”

Harry jumps, eyes wide and he stutters as soon as he sees Louis Tomlinson, “Uhh…. Hey? What are you.. doing here?”

“Your mum’s birthday.” Louis says casually, “Mum’s here.”

“Right.” Harry nods slowly. Of course, Harry gets it. Just because he and Louis broke up, it doesn’t mean their mum have to as well, “How are you enjoying the party?”

“I enjoy the food.” Louis tells him with a light smile, “Especially that parma ham, always the best cook you are.”

Harry shoots back playfully, “Says the shittiest cook I’ve ever met.”

Louis gasps, mock-offended, “I gave you a compliment!”

Harry chuckles in response. He removes the apron and hooks it behind the door.  He exits the kitchen, feeling Louis follow him. He turns abruptly, and Louis jumps, “You can uh..” Harry stammers, “I’m gonna go freshen up... for yeah. You should head outside first.”

“Will you join me there?” Louis asks, pocketing his hands, “Your backyard’s full of middle-aged women.”

Harry hesitates, tongue getting twisted as he fishmouths. He doesn’t come up with anything.

Louis notices this, and his smile falls a little, “Right, uh.. I’ll head outside.” He turns to get to the backdoor. Once he’s out of sight, Harry releases a breath.

He closes his door when he reaches his room, leaning against it. Seriously, what does Louis even want with him? Aren’t exes supposed to be arch nemesies, or just plain awkward around each other? How can Louis even talk to him without feeling some sort of.. emotion? He’s too casual. Or maybe he just doesn’t care.

He heads out minutes later after changing his clothes. He discreetly looks out his window. He sees his Mum and Jay talking with their other friends, and Louis’ on the side, sat on their swing typing on his phone. Harry’s heart twinges. He remembers the times when he and Louis would just sit there in that stupid swing  whenever things got too hard or too boring.

He doesn’t want to do it, but he goes to his Mum, greeting her with a murmur before kissing her cheek. It’s not a second when she chuckles, “This is a grown women conversation, Harry. Why don’t you join Louis over there?”

Harry opens his mouth to argue, but then he remembers that he doesn’t even want to be in a ‘grown women conversation’. He sighs and gets out of their way. He glances at Louis, who doesn’t notice him coming over yet. Harry takes his time, waiting for someone to call him, or the sprinklers to turn on. Just something.

“Oh hey, H.” Louis says, smiling up at him as he pockets his phone.

  
“I wasn’t old enough to join a grown women conversation.” Harry tells him, sitting down on the next swing.

Louis chuckles, “You’re not a woman either. You can join a stunningly handsome guy conversation, then.”

Harry purses his lips and mutters, “Well, I am stunningly handsome.”

Louis laughs and shakes his head. He remains his laughs light before he speaks, “You still have it, Styles.” Harry just looks down and smiles to himself.  Louis looks at him again, “How have you been?”

“Hm?” Harry looks up at him.

Louis’ staring at him with this unreadable expression, “How are you?” He says with a pretty overwhelming amount of seriousness.

“I’m..” Harry clears his throat and nods, “I’m great, yeah. I got a C instead of an F in my English. Gotta work on my Geometry, though.” Harry almost winces at his words.

“And.. non-school wise?”

Harry shrugs and smiles, “I’m feeling fine.”

“I uh..” Louis says, looking over the rest of the yard, “I heard you were with someone?”

Harry doesn’t want to answer, just wants to pretend he didn’t hear, “So are you.”

“No.. I..” Louis looks genuinely confused, “I’m not dating anyone.”

Harry nods, “So am I.”

He doesn’t see Louis breathe a sigh of relief. Was it relief?

~○~

They’re handing out fliers for prom, the blue, white and silver posters everywhere decorating the lifeless school and everyone’s already buzzing. As soon as Louis walked in, he’s handed a flier and he takes a second to look at it. Apparently it’s like.. one and a half month away. He sighs and shoves the paper into the nearby trash bin.

“You coming?” is the first thing Zayn asks as he approaches Louis by his locker.

Louis bats his eyelashes at him, “Will you be my date?”

“You should be reserving that for someone.” Zayn has a cup of coffee in hand, and as he goes to take a sip he wiggles an eyebrow at Louis.

Louis hits him, “Come on let’s get to PE.”

“Go shirts!” The others laugh, mocking cheers. They’ve got a little game today, and Louis’ team really wants to win against Nick’s team. Coach is out today, so that basically means it’s a free period.

“Alright.” Louis turns to his team, the skins, and he shrugs, not really in the mood to play captain,  “You all know what to do.”

Someone whistles, and everyone get into position. Louis stands in the middle, hands on his hips and following the ball with his eyes. Soon enough, Louis catches the ball with a little jump and runs towards the shirts’ goal. Liam is in front of it, and Louis  kicks the ball as hard as he can. The ball lands on the net.

Quiet cheers and claps fill the wide field, and some clap at Louis’ already sweaty back. For the second game, Louis can feel the adrenaline, shaking his hands and shoulders before getting ready. He stands near the goal as a defender, and he can see the ball being passed and kicked around. Soon, Sam gives him a look before kicking the ball towards him.

“Go Sam!”

Louis’ head whips to the sound of Harry’s voice, momentarily distracted, and when he looks back, the ball strikes right to his face. He falls to the ground with a groan, clutching at his forehead.

“Fuck.” He says, eyes blinking. Practically the whole class jog over to see Louis, and he only shoos them away as he sits up, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“Your nose is bleeding, idiot.” Zayn laughs at him, grabbing his arm to pull him up, “Come on. I’ll walk you to the clinic.”

Louis huffs and slightly stumbles until Zayn wraps a hand around his upper arm. He wipes under his nose and sees his hand with blood. Once in the clinic, the nurse stops the bleeding and advises Louis to take it easy, and be sure to come back if he ever gets dizzy.

“How the hell did you even get hit?” Zayn asks as they exit the clinic, walking back to the field, “I saw you practically undress that ball with your eyes from how focused you are.”

Louis doesn’t answer, doesn’t even admit to himself that it’s Harry’s bloody voice that distracted him, with a simple shout of another guy’s name. Zayn pushes Louis to sit down on the bottom stair of the bleacher, pointing a finger at him to stay put before jogging back to the field to continue playing.

Louis wipes at his nose again, making sure there are no remnants of blood anywhere, and when he looks up, he sees Sam. From behind Sam, he sees Harry glancing over to them. Louis looks back at Sam, “Hey, mate.”

“I uh..” Sam scratches at the back of his head, guilt evident in his face, “Really sorry about earlier—“

“It’s fine.” Louis waves it off, “Accidents happen. Great kick, though. You should sign up for the football team.”

Sam chuckles, “I just might, thanks for the offer, though.”

“Sam!” Sam looks towards the direction. Harry’s on the field, waving Sam over and his other hand preoccupied with holding a badminton racket. He really does like badminton.

“Uh.. gotta go.” Sam says, pointing to Harry.

“Yeah sure.” Louis nods at him, cracking a small smile and watching as Sam jogs over to Harry, and seeing Harry smile wider than ever when he looks at Sam.

“What’s the sour face?” Zayn asks. He had jogged over while Louis’ busy subconsciously glaring at Sam’s back. Louis looks at him, glare still on, before he stands up and walks out of the field.

~○~

“A party?” Harry asks, tossing some fries into his mouth. The cafeteria seems extra loud today and all they can hear is about that party Niall Horan’s throwing.

“Yeah, it’s tonight. Wanna come?” Liam asks back, referring to both Harry and Sam.

Harry shrugs, “Yeah sure. It’ll be fun. Gotta ask my mum, though.”

“What a big baby.” Sam teases, chuckling, “Oh, and.. Louis said he was fine.”

Harry stills. He looks at Sam, blinking, “What?”

“You wanted to know, didn’t you?” Sam smirks, wiggling his eyebrows as he takes a bite on his sandwich.

Harry splutters, “I-I didn’t say anything.” Why is he so flustered?

“What’s going on?” Liam says, side-eyeing Harry. Before he can answer, though, a girl with this large camera in hand walks over, “Hi! May I take a picture of you three? It’s for prom.”

“Okay..” Harry nods. They all smile for the camera. When it’s taken, the girl beams and thanks them before bounding away.

“Now that just makes me more excited.” Sam grins, jittery.

Later that night, Harry’s waiting for Sam to pick him and Liam up. Harry’s wearing this tight pair of jeans and a black button down shirt. Liam told him it matches better than that old band shirt he has.

“He’s taking so long.” Liam huffs from Harry’s bed, typing away in his phone.

“That’s alright. I doubt it’s going to end at midnight.” Harry says. He fixes his collar before he tells Liam to come down with him. It’s already a quarter to 11, and they’re probably gonna be there in 10 or so minutes.

“You boys be careful, alright?” Anne says as she rises from the couch, giving a kiss to Harry’s forehead, “I’m gonna head to bed. Make sure to lock the door when you leave. The key’s in the bookshelf.” Without another word, she walks to her room and shuts the door behind himself.

There’s a honk outside, and Harry makes a quick check around the house before he leaves, locking the door. He grins when he sees Sam’s car, “Where’d you steal that?” He asks as he climbs into the passenger seat.

“It’s my brother’s.” Sam says with a wink, “Now, where’s this Niall’s house?”

“I have the address.” Liam says, reading out loud.

“You absolutely can’t get drunk. You’re our driver.” Harry says to Sam, who only chuckles back, “I’m serious!”

“Not even letting me enjoy the party, Styles.”

They arrive much later, and it’s already a mess, like a typical highschool party. They enter through the front door and there are too many people to count. A person bumps into Harry and the latter jumps, giving way for the drunk to pass by.

They manage to find their way to this long table with a mess of chips, beer bottles and cups. Harry’s attention is grabbed when Sam pats at him, “Look at your boy over there.”

Harry looks over, seeing Louis in the dance floor, dancing with himself. He’s got a drink in his hand and just swaying mindlessly. Harry can’t help but chuckle, “He looks crazy.” He looks back at Sam, “And he’s not my boy. Not anymore, at least.”

“Aw.” Sam teases, a smirk playing on his lips, “Well, I’m gonna try and mingle my way to someone’s... heart.” He winks and he raises his drink before he disappears into the crowd.

Harry laughs and shakes his head, gulping down his drink and coughing a little bit. He hears a very loud chant starting by the kitchen, and when he shifts a bit, he sees a guy on the counter, shirtless, and a girl doing a body shot on him. How can highschoolers be this wild?

Harry looks over at Liam and sees him searching the crowd with his eyes. Harry smirks, “I think I saw Zayn somewhere by the dance floor.”

Liam rolls his eyes at him, “Ha, funny Harold.” He turns to grab another bottle of beer, “I’m gonna hang outside. Wanna come with?”

Harry nods. He follows Liam, maneuvering through the crowded floor. It’s quite disgusting, feeling sweaty bodies and the heat between the bodies. Harry passes by, close to the glass sliding doors, when someone grabs him. He turns quickly, seeing who it is.

“Louis?” Harry asks a swaying, drunk Louis. He looks back over his shoulder to see Liam already outside, beginning a conversation with someone. He turns back to Louis, “Louis, hey.” He has his hands mid-air, ready to catch in case Louis falls on his face or something.  His balance is really way off.

“Drink with me, Haz.” Louis slurs, grabbing both Harry’s outstretched hands before pulling him to the middle of the dancefloor.

“Lou, you’re drunk. Come on.” Harry says, finding Louis’ sides. The latter doesn’t stop dancing, swaying his hips and placing his hands on Harry’s chest and dragging them to Harry’s shoulders.

“Come on.” Harry removes Louis’ hands from him, gripping them quite tightly. He turns, holding Louis’ hands behind him.

Once they reach a corner, Harry turns back around and lets go hesitantly. There’s not an inch between him for longer than a second because Louis suddenly latches to Harry. The curly lad sputters slightly, almost dropping his bottle, “Louis—“ His hands settle on Louis’ upper arms, attempting to untangle his arms from his waist.

“Hazza.” Louis suddenly sniffles, face buried in Harry’s neck.

Harry sighs. He puts down his bottle on top of the fireplace they’re standing beside. Keeping one hand on Louis’ shoulder, he reaches an awkward hand to pat Louis’ back.

Louis, surprisingly, hums, almost a purr, “Miss you.”

Harry blinks, clearing his throat. He shakes his head before he grabs Louis’ hands behind him, successfully tugging them from him. He stands a reasonably far distance from Louis, pocketing his hands, “I uh.. I’ll go. Make sure not to drink any more drinks, alright?”

As he turns, he suddenly hears a distressed cry over the loud music. Somehow it sounds different and louder than the bass. He looks back and sees Louis bent over, hands on his knees as he sobs, his figure wracking with them. The people near him look at him weirdly, then they see Harry. It must’ve been an enough answer for them because they go back to their conversations.

I can’t leave, Harry concludes, and he comes closer to Louis and grabs his wrist, pulling him from the spot. He pulls him until they reach outside when it’s not as loud. When they reach the porch steps, Louis tugs his hand from Harry and sits on the steps, knees together and hands covering his face.

“Louis.” Harry kneels in front of him, “You alright?”

Louis’ saying something under his breath, and when Harry gets close enough, he hears, “I don’t miss you. I don’t miss you.” Louis whispers like a chant, sniffing in between.

Harry sighs, trying his best to ignore it, “What are you even doing to yourself.” He’s seen Louis like this a couple of times , and he always ends up drunk off his mind when he’s really upset about something.  
It's a few minutes of awkward silence when Louis lifts his head up. It's been so long since Harry has seen him this close. Louis' eyes are twinkling because of his tears, nose red and lips quite swollen and cheeks embarrassingly wet. Harry once wished he looked like that when he left Harry.

Harry bends down a little to meet Louis' gaze, "No more bottles for a while, okay?"

Louis just looks at him, eyebrows pulled into a sad frown. Harry looks away from him and stands up, clearing his throat, "I'm gonna head inside and.. grab you some water. After that, I better uh.. go." He nods to himself before he walks past Louis and back inside. He finds some bottles of water inside a cooler in the kitchen, and he grabs two just in case.

When he goes to go back outside, Liam sees him, "Hey, where were you? You didn't follow me out there."

Harry fishmouths a little, "Sorry, something came up." Like an ex bumping into him and saying he misses him and takes back his words a minute after.

Before Liam can answer him, someone's screaming, "Police!" and then everyone’s screaming and running around.

Harry's eyes widen, "This was illegal?!" He doesn't wait for Liam's response, he runs past Liam and ignores his friend's calls. Everyone is rushing out from the front door as fast as they can, probably going back to climb onto fences and shit.

"H, what are you doing?! Go to the back!" He meets Sam halfway, who's all panicked and tense.

"Don't worry 'bout me, alright? Just go." Again, Harry doesn't wait for his response before he runs outside, seeing Louis' spot by the porch steps empty. It's a proper mess outside, with the police men taking over the place as they catch as much teenagers as possible. Through the yard, Harry sees someone being pushed inside a police car.

"Louis!" Harry yells.

One police officer sees him, and instantly takes his hands behind his back, "Come with me, kid. You're too young to be here in these types of parties."

Harry almost growls, but he does tear his hands away, "I'll come with, alright?" He jogs towards the police car Louis' in, tugging the car open before climbing inside. Louis' sat by the window, cheek squished by the door as he snores lightly.

Harry sighs and looks out the window. There's still a commotion out there, and he hopes he can find an excuse to why the hell he got arrested. Wait, why is he even here? He's not supposed to be here! He should've up and left with Liam, or Sam, or just run like hell alone.

"Shit." Harry runs his hands through his hair, until he realizes he can't because he's holding two water bottles.

"What's happening?" Louis suddenly says, slurring his words as he sits upright. His eyes are halfway open, and it's evident he's still drunk as fuck.

The police officer on the driver's seat say, "You're coming with us to the police station, and we'll see what the chief will say to you. If it's bad, you're probably gonna spend the night in jail. If not, then we'll call your parents and have you escorted back home."

Harry ignores the panic in his chest and reaches over to hand Louis a bottle, "Here. Drink it."

Louis grabs it, after a few attempts. He manages to chug half of it, before he screws it back closed. Harry doesn't notice he's staring, but he jumps when the police officer suddenly turns the engine on and begins to drive. On the way, he's received a few texts from both Sam and Liam.

_H did u get caught? u bloody idiot_

_i'm w/ sam and zayn. he's asking if louis' with u._

_found zayn and liam, try n get outta there, yh?_

Harry sighs again. He goes to write a new text for his mum, but he decides against it. He'll call her when his heart is not beating out of his chest. A few minutes later, they arrive at the police station. Through the window, Harry can already see some being walked inside.

Harry's with a more sober Louis as they walk inside. They are lined up in the reception hall, and the chief is there in front of him. Harry can feel his hands shake so he folds them behind his back, gripping each other. The speech lasts for so long that his legs get tired, but in the end, they're let off with a warning, and they can't leave if there are no parents to escort them home.

Harry finds Louis sat on one of the benches near the door, and since Harry doesn't know anyone in there, he sits beside him. As soon as he takes a seat, Louis says, "I'm sorry."

Harry gulps, "For what?"

"You're here because you went for me, right?" Louis asks, still rubbing his head. Thankfully, the alcohol is in head has seemingly worn off because he speaks much.. better now.

"Not necessarily.." Harry says hesitantly, "But you can say that."

"Well, I heard you calling me." Louis shrugs.

Harry pulls out his phone and dials his mum. She answers after Harry's second attempt, "Harry?"

"Hey, Mum." Harry squeezes his eyes closed, "I'm in the police station, somewhere near Uptown Mall. I'll explain it to you after, I promise."

Anne sighs heavily, "What am I gonna do with you. Wait for me."

"Okay, Love you. Bye." Harry hangs up. When he looks over, he sees Louis looking at him, "Yeah?"

Louis shakes his head, "Nothing."

Anne arrives much later, and Harry stands to hug her, saying his apologies. He only pats his back before he sees Louis, "Oh, Louis. Hi, darling."

Louis stands, stumbles a little bit. He flushes, "Sorry, uh.. I'm a bit drunk."

Anne makes a tsk-ing noise and asks, "Where's your mum?"

"Oh, uh.. she has night shifts at the hospital so eh.. I can't call her." Louis nods, blinking a little.

Anne glances at Harry before she's smiling at Louis, "Do you want to come with? I can drive you home."

Louis glances at Harry before he pulls on a smile, "There's no need, Mrs. Styles. I can figure something out."

"Nonsense." Anne waves a hand, "You'll cause yourself more trouble."

Without a word, she turns before sauntering out of the station. in the car, Harry's sat in the passenger seat with Louis in the back. It's quiet, but thanks to the radio, it's not so. When Anne reaches Louis' house, it's dark except for the porch lights.

"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Styles." Louis says before he climbs out of the car.

Harry doesn't watch him through the side mirror as they drive away. No, he doesn't.

~○~

"I heard you were with Harry yesterday." Louis' mum greets in the morning as she stirs her tea. She's leaning against the counter by the time Louis enters the kitchen to ask for some breakfast.

"Yeah uh.. that party I went to last night.." He says, rubbing his head. He's got a hangover from all the drinks he's had, "..got raided with cops and we got caught. His mum drove me home."

"Ah." She nods, "You're still in trouble for drinking too much. No parties for the next two weeks, and take over the chores for the rest of the weekend.

Louis murmurs, “As I always do.”

She pets his hair, “There’s breakfast on the table. I gotta go to work.” She kisses his head goodbye before she leaves, shutting the door behind her.  
Sighing, Louis sits on the table. As always, his breakfast is delicious. Though, the dull throbbing of his head is preventing him from savoring it. It reminds him of last night clearly. He was proper drunk but he knows the moment he’s in the car with Harry, he could think clearer. To be honest, he really has no idea why Harry would be a bloody idiot and get himself to risky situations. He should’ve ran with Liam or that Sam.

But why did he stay?

Louis continues to eat his breakfast with a small huff. Once he’s done with the dishes, he gets a call from Zayn. He answers, settling on the couch, “Hey, Z.”

Zayn says. His voice is huskier, and Louis guesses he’d just woken up as well, “Mate, what happened to you last night? I lost you at that dance floor.” Dancefloor.

_Hazza._

_Drink with me._

_I miss you_

_I don’t miss you_

“Shit.” Louis curses, screwing his eyes closed.

“Hm, what?” Zayn asks.

Louis sighs, “Nothing. I uh... got drunk.”

“Did you get taken, though? I was with Liam and that new kid, and—wait, were you with Harry?” Zayn asks, a different tone in his voice.

He wouldn’t tell Zayn, but he also wants to, and he knows tha if it’s a secret it’ll remain a secret with Zayn, “He stayed for me.” Louis says. His voice surprisingly gets softer, as if he’s just realizing it.

Zayn buffers, “Again, what? You’re making my hangover worse.”

“We.. were together like.. outside.” Louis slowly begins to explain, “And he told me to stop drinking, and he left me for a moment. Then the police came and they took me first. I uh.. pretty much dozed in and out after that. But.. I woke up and I saw him running and calling my name, I think.” Louis rubs his head, “He was with me the rest of the night.”

“And why’s that the tone of your voice, like.. you’re fucking smitten.”

“Aren’t I?” Louis doesn’t catch himself, “He went for me, Zayn. What am I supposed to feel about that?”

“Lou, you were the one who broke up with him.” Zayn tells him, “Just in case you forgot.”

“Yeah but why’d he do that, then?”

“I don’t know, maybe he’s just a genuinely nice person? I mean, I would be pissed if he left me there.” Zayn groans suddenly, and Louis hears some shuffling, “Wake yourself up a little, yeah? I’m gonna shower.”

“Alright. Bye.” Louis hangs up and tosses his phone beside him. He spends the rest of the weekend doing just that.

~○~

Seeing Zayn on Monday feels different, and Louis feels embarrassed for himself. He sits down, and Zayn instantly turns to him with a raised eyebrow, “So?”

“What?” Louis asks, leaning back in his seat. Class won’t start until a few minutes.

Zayn crosses his arms, “Anything on your mind? Like what happened on Friday?”

“It’s..” Louis shakes his head, “It’s nothing, okay? Forget ‘bout it. I don’t mean anything by it.”

“And you shouldn’t.” Zayn supplies, “Don’t think Harry’s still into you just because he was being nice.”

“I’m not!” Louis snaps suddenly. He fishmouths a little, but he shakes his head and decides against it.

During lunch, Louis’ sat with Zayn and a few of the football team, eating while Niall tell stories with a disgusting amount of food in his mouth. Louis can’t join along for some reason, got his head bowed to his food all the time. He only lifts his head when he catches sight of someone.

He sees Harry’s trio of him, Liam, and of course, Sam, as they walk through the cafeteria, finding themselves a few tables away from Louis’ table. Over Lucas’ shoulder, Louis can see Harry in a distance, chatting and laughing along. Louis suddenly feels a moment of... longing. But come on, can you blame him?

Zayn nudges at Louis, and Louis tears his gaze away.

~○~

Harry’s complaining about his sloppy joe like he’s Gordon Ramsay when suddenly Sam’s and Liam’s laughter comes to a halt, getting silent suddenly. Harry looks up and sees Louis standing by the edge of the table with a small smile.

“Hey, Louis.” Harry greets with a smile, taking a large bite of his sandwich.

“Hey.” Louis says, and then he turns to Liam, “Liam uh.. can we talk for a mo?”

Liam glances at Harry before he nods slowly, surprised and confused, “Uh sure. Lead the way.” Liam stands and follows Louis. Harry watches their retreating figures until he can’t.

“That was weird.”  Sam comments, “I bet Liam’s gonna walk in here with a blackeye or something. Or least one of them.”

Harry giggles. A few moments later, Liam does walk in. But he’s already sat with them and Louis’ still not walking in. He looks at Liam. Instead of an angry or upset expression like what he’s expecting, Liam’s unreadable.

Before he can even ask, though, Sam beats him to it, “What happened?”

Liam looks uneasy, “Nothing. It’s just kind of weird.” He murmurs the last part, and he glances at Harry before he sighs and resumes eating.

~○~

“Tomlinson.” The teacher calls for the daily roll call. He’s met with silence, and Harry looks over a little to his left and sees the chair still empty. It’s a few days since the weekend and since Tuesday, Louis’ been gone. Harry’s been itching to ask Zayn but he figures that wouldn’t end up good.

The next weekend, Harry spends his time doing his homework and advance studying, since he really has nothing better to do. It’s Sunday afternoon and he goes to the mall to maybe buy himself some food and distract himself a little.

He lines up for some McDonald’s, looking up at the menu to decide what he’s going to get. After he has his food packed to go, he exits the fast food. Although, as he walks away, he sees quite familiar faces at the corner of his eyes. He looks to his right, and through the glass windows, he sees Louis and Liam on a table, seemingly having a serious chat.

Harry halts, and before he knows it, he’s standing at their table, “Hey.. guys.” He greets.

Louis and Liam both seem tensed at his presence. Liam’s the first to greet him back, “Hey, mate. What are you doing here?”

Harry wants to interrogate them so bad – why the hell are his best friend and ex together, when Harry perfectly knows how much Liam dislikes Louis after the whole break up thing. Instead, Harry forces a smile, “Just grabbed a few things.” Harry lifts his small plastic bag to prove a point, “You two?”

“Y’know uh..” Louis begins, shrugging, “Liam here wants to.. take Zayn out.” Louis side-eyes Liam, “Yeah, my bestfriend. Zayn.”

Harry nods slowly, “Right.” He looks back at both of them before he nods again, “Okay, I’m... I’m gonna go. Have some more things to... do—Liam.” Harry says. Liam blinks. Harry tells him, “I’m offended you didn’t tell me this.” He looks at Louis, “It’s nice seeing you.” He smiles before he turns, not hearing anything from them as he walks away.

When he gets home, he eats, all the while keeping a hawk eye on his phone to see if Liam will text. He can’t make the move first, what if they’re still together?

After finishing his meal, though, he itches so bad. Why were they together? Harry’s always sure Liam’s going to avoid Louis as much as he can. Seeing them together is... awkward. But who is he to judge? Maybe they’re working on a friendship, and Liam just really wants to take Zayn out.

Hours later, Harry’s in his room while Anne makes dinner in the kitchen. He practically dives for his phone when he gets a phone and sees it’s Liam. He clears his throat, “Hey, Li.”

“He wanted a closure.” Liam says simply and Harry sags, “Don’t pretend. I know you’re wanting to know what we’re doing together.”

“A closure.” Harry nods, “I thought we were already... I don’t know, fine? There’s no need for a closure. “

“He just wants to have a talk.” Liam says, “He sounded ... genuine.”

“What really happened? That day in the cafeteria?”

_“Liam uh.. I’m getting right to the chase.” Louis sighs, gulping and seeming tense. The air between them is thick, like he can’t breathe. This is Liam for fuck’s sake, how will he act if it’s Harry?, “I know you know that Harry was with m  last Friday at the party. He.. He came for me and he was calling for me and --.. did he mention something about it? Anything?”_

_Liam’s almost too hesitant to answer, “Not that I know of.”_

_“Well...” Louis shifts on his feet and looks around. Everyone’s minding their own business, thankfully, “We were together for the rest of the night, and he didn’t try to leave me and.. and he didn’t seem angry about anything..” Louis’ slowly getting worked up, blinking and gradually tying his own tongue._

_Liam’s eyebrows furrowed but his tone is softer than expected, “What are you trying to say, Louis?”_

_The look in Louis’ eyes is almost heartbreaking, “Does he still want me?”_

_It’s a vulnerable tone, and Liam’s sure he’s not asking about that for it to be a no. It sounds like Louis needed to hear a yes._

_“He really has moved on, Lou.”_

Harry’s silent as Liam finishes his story. It takes too long that Liam asks, “You have, though, right?”

“I guess.” Harry says as he fidgets with his thumb, “I mean.. I don’t .. I’m fine without him.”

“He wants to talk with you.” Liam says, “And that’s basically what I said to him earlier. I was the one who asked him to come.”

“What did you say?”

“Just a few...” Liam murmurs, “I told him it wouldn’t be easy to get what he wanted. He was the one who let you go.”

“Right.” Harry nods. He swallows down his tears and covers the mouthpiece as he sniffles, “Liam, I’m gonna go, okay? Thank you for telling me this.”

“Sure.” Liam says, but then tacks on, “But I really did ask how to ask Zayn out, so Louis didn’t lie about that part.”

Harry chuckles, “Yeah, thanks Li.”

~○~

It’s Monday when Harry decides to do it. If Louis wants to have a talk, then so be it. Harry just wants to get over it. Harry waits until dismissal time, waiting by his locker as he sees the football team running through the double doors of the gym and to the locker room. Harry waits until he sees them walk out one by one or group by group. When he sees Zayn come out first, he approaches him.

“Oh hey, H.” Zayn greets, patting his shoulders, “Louis’ inside.”

How did he even know? Harry stammers, “Um.. yeah, thanks.” He stands beside the doors of the locker room, looking down on his shoes as he contemplates what to say. What will he say? He has no idea.

“Harry?” Louis asks, making Harry jump. Louis’ standing in front of him, in his hoodie and jeans.  He’s carrying his bag, his face towel and a water bottle.

“Yeah, hi.” Harry smiles a little.

“Sam’s..” Louis begins slowly, “.. talking with Coach Carrie.”

“I was looking for you.” Harry says, rolling on the balls of his feet.

“Ah.” Louis nods, “Okay. Why?”

Harry opens his mouth to speak, but a few more football players exit the locker room, laughing and chattering loudly.  They clap at Louis’ back as they pass by, sending knowing looks and smirks which Louis ignores.

“Let’s talk uh.. outside.” Louis points behind him before he turns to walk. Harry follows closely behind until they’re out on the field. Louis sits on the bottom step of the bleacher, hands pocketed in his hoodie. He looks at Harry and smiles, “So?”

Harry crosses his arms, just somewhere to put them so it wouldn’t look awkward, “Just... just to be clear,” He looks around, just in case they’re being watched or listened to, “What happened in the party, I.. I don’t mean anything by it.” Harry says, almost winces, “I just figured it would be a dick move to leave you there when I was the one who dragged you out there.”

It’s a while when Louis answers. It’s quit and hushed, “Why did you, though? Bring me outside, I mean.”

“You were drunk.” Harry shrugs, “Do you remember anything?”

Louis remains quiet for longer than necessary until he sighs and nods, “I.. I said I missed you, or something like that..”

“Did you mean it?” Harry asks, voice soft and not at all challenging, “If no, that’s.. that’s fine, because I knew you were drunk. Drunk people—“

“—tend to tell the truth.” Louis supplies for him. He looks at Harry with this almost pleading look, “Yes, Harry. I meant it. Obviously, I didn’t mean to say it out loud but I always knew deep inside that I do. It’s got me screwed up and I didn’t even realize until the party. "

Harry closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, “We’re over, Louis.” He shakes his head, “You were the one who broke up with me.”

Louis makes a sudden move of his hands. He covers his face, breathing deeply, “I know.”

“Then what are you saying?” Harry asks. He tries for his voice not to break, “We’re not.. you’re not supposed to be like this.”

“I still love you.” Louis says with this hard, determined tone. He brings his hands down and stands up, “I still love you, Harry.”

“Fuck, Louis.” Harry turns and grips the railing that separates the field and bleachers.

“I know. I know.” Harry hears Louis say , and then a sniffle.

“Don’t cry.” Harry turns again to look back at him, “You don’t get to cry for me after all you’ve done to me. I was broken when you left me, Louis, and you’re doing it again.”

“I was stupid, okay?” Louis has tears now, streaming down his face. He looks exactly like he did at the party, except this time he’s sober, “It was stupid to break it off with you but now I really want you back, Harry.” He steps towards Harry but Harry steps back, feeling the railing press up to his lower back.

Harry scoffs lightly, but he has tears in his eyes as well, “How dare you say that?”

He goes home with a heavy chest, taking the bus home so he wouldn’t come across Louis or something. When he gets home, he plops down on the couch and shoves his face into a cushion. Anne finds him like that, and when she lifts his head up, he’s got tears and sweat all over his face.

“Oh, darling.” Anne coos as Harry hugs her, sobbing freely into her shoulder.

~○~

"I fucked up." Louis says, leaning against Zayn's headboard. It's been almost a week since the whole incident. And all he could feel is... regret. Fuck him, because he only realized that now.

"As you always do." Zayn supplies. He's the one taking over this assignment that is due like, tomorrow. Louis' not in the appropriate emotional state to slap himself to reality, "How 'bout this..." Zayn begins to propose seriously, "If you help me finish this crap sooner, I'll let you talk your heart out about everything."

Jesus, yes, because what Louis really needs right now is someone to talk to. He's been holled up inside himself these past few days and it's almost suffocating

So, about one or so hours later, Zayn has joined him in bed, eyes down on his phone but ears and mind belonging to Louis as the latter begins to speak. He tells his best mate about the whole talk, about the (unncessary) tears, and even how absolutely beautiful yet broken Harry looked as he left, wiping away those angry tears.

"To be honest." Zayn finally put down his phone, blinking up lazily to Louis, "I don't think this can ever be fixed."

"That's it?" Louis asks, eyebrows pulled, "No fake optimism? Any encouragement?" Cause I’ll take anything.

"That's what you've been giving yourself lately. It's why you somehow concluded to even talk to Harry, because you thought he still loves you." Zayn says in this serious, monotoned voice. He sits up with a little grunt, resting his hands on his own knees, "Now, would you tell me the real reason why you broke it off with him besides being a complete idiot?"

Louis looks down in shame. He honestly have no idea. All he remembers is that, him being so passive and just pushing Harry away with no absolute reason. Eventually, Louis shakes his head and murmurs, "I don't know."

"Listen, mate." Zayn says, "I don't know how but you've managed to be that person Harry didn't deserve." He shrugs, "But you know, you two were perfect in the beginning. Wait, what exactly did you say to Harry when you broke up?"

Louis screws his eyes shut. Not again. All he feels is remorse and disappointment in himself whenever he replays that moment in his head. Nevertheless, he silently says as if he's whispering, "People change." I don’t love you anymore.

"Hm, completely brutal but not completely wrong." Zayn chuckles, and since when did Zayn become a councilor? "You should like... prove to him that you've changed.. at least, back to the person you were before being that dickhead boyfriend." Ah, he's back.

"How is that, exactly?"

"Hey, Lou. You can't ask me everything. My mind is squeezed." Zayn raises his hands in surrender. As if on cue, Zayn's mum peeks in, calling the boys down for dinner.

~○~

“How about you?” Zayn asks. He climbs out of the car with Louis following him. They walk side by side on the sidewalk. It’s quite sunny out, and Louis almost regrets going outside. But it’s only like a week before prom and if he’s going to show up, he’ll need a tux.

“I don’t know.” Louis answers, shrugging. A tux isn’t what’s inside his mouth recently, for obvious reasons.

Zayn stops at a door, “Well, you better decide. You’re not spending your last prom looking like crap.” He sends Louis a knowing look as he tacks on, “You’re not spending it at home, too.”

Louis rolls his eyes, “Just go in.” He doesn’t really think he has energy for prom. It’ll be a waste of time as well. Going in, they’re greeted by the rows and rows of tuxedos and suits and this large mirror in the center of the room. Thankfully, there isn’t anyone inside, which means both boys basically own the place before anyone comes in.

“Why, hello boys. I take your looking for suits? For prom, yes?” An old lady greets them, pushing her glasses up her nose, “Feel free to try anything you want.”

“Thank you.” Zayn grins, practically diving into the sea of suits. Louis himself settles on the couch, plainly looking around. To be honest, he’d want a blue suit.

The bell by the door chimes, serving as a signal that a new customer has entered. Louis looks over and he absolutely freezes as he catches sight of Harry and Sam. Sam’s the first one to enter, laughing at something as he looks at Harry over his shoulder. But when he looks straight ahead, his eyes land on Louis the same time Harry’s do. Louis can see Harry’s smile wipe off his face in a second.

“Hey, man!” Sam greets gleefully, and is he thick? Alright, Louis doesn’t mean to be rude. At least the guy’s being tolerable.

“Hey.” Louis smiles at him.

“Oh, hey mate.” Zayn greets, already holding this suit to his chest as he pats Sam’s shoulder. He nods at Harry, who’s still standing behind Sam, “Hey, H.”

“Hi.” Harry answers with a little quirk of his eyebrows. Surprisingly, he acknowledges Louis. A little hesitant, but he gets there, “Hey, Louis.”

Louis stops himself from staring, “Hi, H.”

A beat of silence follows and Zayn clears his throat, “You guys have a tux in mind?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m looking for...” Sam begins but Louis blocks his and Zayn’s conversation out. He glances up at Harry, who’s still standing, and scoots farther to the couch. Harry notices the action and sits down. A large gap between them remains empty.

Louis remains silent until one of three acknowledge him, “How about you?” He looks up and sees Zayn and Sam still rustling the racks. He looks to his left and Harry’s looking at him expectantly.

He clears his throat, but it does nothing because he stutters out, “Oh um.. something... something blue. Y-you?”

“Something black.” Harry retaliates and a small smile spreads, “I’m just keeping Sam company.”

Louis nods, and he stands up to begin searching for his own because he can’t stand the awkwardness anymore. He hears a sound from Zayn and sees the lad clutching this white slick suit, with a black button down inside. Louis raises an eyebrow, “You’re going white?”

“Someone’s rooting for prom king.” Sam teases with a light laugh, and Harry joins in as well.

“Ha, funny. Your jaws are all gonna be down on that floor when I fit this.” Zayn scoffs before he walks to the back to get changed.

In the meantime, Louis searches for the suit that should make him stare in awe. Moments of silence and plastic rustling together, Sam exclaims with a little whistle, “Looks like we’re going to have a double jaw-drop moment here.” He says as he walks to the back and enter the second changing room since there are two.

Louis pulls out a blue suit, and he actually takes time to examine the details. After a few moments, he’s shrugging and hooking the suit on one of the hooks nearby. Harry, meanwhile, is surely taking his every fibre not to make this as awkward as it seems, “Uh.. that’s your pick?”

Louis nods, “Yeah.”

Soon, Zayn comes out as well as Sam. And while they imagine themselves at prom, Louis takes his time in the changing room to change into the suit of choice. He looks at himself in the mirror, and woah. It does fit him better than he’d expected it to be. You can fucking see and shape out his curves. Louis exhales a deep breath and comes out. As soon as he faces the lads, he shrugs, “Whatcha think?”

They all have their jaws dropped. Well, not Harry, but it’s probably only because Louis can’t look straight at him. It’s until Sam chimes in,  “Make that a triple jaw-drop moment.” He laughs, but then he nudges Harry, “Right, H?”

~○~

  
They’re playing this pop song extremely loud when Harry and his friends enter the gym. They already saw some people lingering in the hallway, and Harry’s probably the only person without a date. Sam has himself hooked with this blonde girl, and he’s pretty ecstatic about it.

“There she is.” Sam says with a grin, patting at Harry and Liam clumsily.  
Harry moves away from his hand with a chuckle, “Alright, go get her tiger.”

Sam practically runs across the gym to get to her, but fortunately keeping his cool. Harry turns back to Liam, nudging him, “How ‘bout you?”

“Hm, what?”

“Your date.” Harry shrugs.

“Let’s find us a table first, yeah?” Liam walks past and Harry, and when the latter turns around he’s already sitting on one empty table with six chairs all around. Harry laughs, sitting himself beside his friend.

“Alright, now you’re just being paranoid as hell. You’ve been telling you’re excited for this like a more times than I could remember.” Harry chuckles. He takes his time to look around the whole place. The dance floor is a wide rectangle in the middle. There’s a stage in front of it, littered with the words Prom Night and its theme. Beside it is this white screen with a projector showing various slides of pictures. The tables are surrounding the dancefloor, and the cattering service are on the back.

“Oi, lads!” Both Liam and Harry look over to see Zayn walking over. He’s wearing the white suit he had gushed over a week ago. He looks great, as usual. The moment he sits down beside Liam, Harry doesn’t get the moment to interrogate the two because he suddenly catches the view which is Louis.

And- okay, woah.

Now, Harry has always been aware how stunning Louis is. It’s unbelievable, and of course it’s one of the many reasons why Harry went out with him. He’s wearing the familiar blue suit he picked out, and he’s wearing a white button shirt. The suit hugs every curve he has, the one Harry used to feel, and sure, he’s already seen Louis wear that suit once so he should’ve gotten at least a little warm-up, but now Louis has his hair quiffed up instead of his usual fringe and Harry shouldn’t be attracted to him like he did months ago.

Harry snaps out of his trance and he looks at Liam and Zayn, “Hey!” He exclaims. The two, who had engaged into a conversation since Harry had ignored them, jump.

“I said I was sorry I didn’t tell you.” Liam says and his eyes got all puppy-like.

Zayn chuckles, “But you were too busy ogling at—“ He gives a sideways glance at Louis who’s busy looking around the whole place.

“Shut up.” Harry makes a show of rolling his eyes.

Once Zayn gestured towards Louis, Harry doesn't stop himself.. like at all. He continues to gaze at him like this pining little nugget. Should he even feel this way? This is getting ridiculous, and they're only in highschool and shit--, "Are they serving dinner yet?" Harry asks, turning back to Liam and Zayn as he clears his throat.

Liam sits up to look around to see if anyone has gotten up to grab a plate, "I don't think so. But I think we can like grab some snacks over there." He points, and sure enough, there are some who has there own little plate with breadsticks, smores and more.

"Oooh, let's grab some, come on." Zayn gushes, already pulling on Liam's arm. They're standing, ready to march over to that table when Liam asks, "How about you two? Anything?"

"No thanks." Harry looks over at Louis at he says it, then he's answering as well, "I'm good."

The two leave and Harry feels himself bubble with awkwardness. It's been like almost two weeks since their really emotional heartfelt conversation, and... to say Harry isn't bothered by it anymore is a lie.

"So uh.." Harry clears his throat, catching Louis' attention. The latter looks over and it's their first eye contact for the evening. Harry continues, "How have you been?" The words seem quite familiar.  
Did Louis notice that? “I’m feeling fine.”

Everything seems awkward, and it's like Harry's wracking with nerves-- where the hell are Liam and Zayn? His knee stops its subconscious bouncing as he catches a familiar figure on the corner of his eyes. He sees Sam just about to enter the loo, and Harry jolts up so suddenly that Louis flinches as his chair dragged back.

"Sorry." Harry flushes, "I uh.." He gives one glance at the loo, "I have to go to the loo."

"Okay.." Louis nods with a little smile. Harry excuses himself and probably does the clumsiest jog he's ever done before he reaches the loo. Sam's inside, fixing his hair and washing his hands.

"Sam." Harry breathes out, a little relieved yet a little stressed.

Sam looks over and he grins, "My man! why so flustered? Don't tell me you already scored." He doesn't notice Harry's distraught look as he pats his shoulder, "I'm proud of you."

"Far from it." Harry replies, "And I'm not trying to, okay? It's just.."

Sam crosses his arms, "Just what?"

"How do I like.." Harry flails his arms, ".. avoid crying? Because he's just there and I can't look at him for the rest of the night." His voice gives out slightly.

Sam looks at him in pity, "Jesus Christ, prom hasn't even started yet, mate."

Harry rolls on the balls of his feet, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, remember what I told you when we had that conversation?" Sam asks. He steps closer and grips Harry's shoulder to get him to listen, "If he wants you, he wants you. He's got to prove himself first before he gets to have you again. And you, make sure he does just that because you deserve better than being this on off switch, alright?" Yeah, Harry does remember. He’d called Sam that very night and accidentally slept on his phone.

Harry looks at those eyes and sees them serious and intent, and he knows Sam means business. He nods and exhales a few times, getting his mind to work, "Right, right. You're right."

"I always am." Sam flashes him a grin, "This is your last romantic night before it dissolves to drugs and alcohol and sex and frats so you better have fun."

Harry lets out a giggle, nodding, "Yeah, okay. thanks for the heads-up. I really appreciate it."

"Great, now man up and get out there."

"You, too." They get out of the loo together and Harry waves him goodbye as Sam takes his path back to his date. He looks back at his table and sees the three chatting. Well, Liam and Zayn, but Louis' stuck to his phone. He returns to the table and sits himself back beside Liam, "So what happened while I was gone?"

"Hey, look." Louis suddenly speaks up, and all of them turns to look at him. He's looking at the stage where the slideshow was still playing. Harry is slightly awed to whoever made that powerpoint because that must takes ages if it actually runs until after prom.

The picture on the screen shows Liam, Harry, and Sam togethe. Oh, it's that time they photographed back then. There are also pictures from that same party where everyone got raided, and everyone laughed when a picture of Niall getting dragged by the police showed.

The laughter dissolves in 'aww's, but Harry and Louis are equally horrified. It's a picture of them, way back into last year. They're in the cafeteria and of course, of course, it had to be a moment they were nuzzling each others' faces with these large grins like they were in love with each other. Liam coughs, and Harry glares at him. He takes a second to glance at Louis, but Louis' staring at the table in front of him. Harry snatches a breadstick on his own plate and gnaws at it grumpily.

It's an hour later when this local band comes and most of them gathers at the dance floor and dance their heart out. Harry's having fun himself despite having no date, but y'know. It gets quite boring when no one's doing anything.

After the band plays a few songs, the principal comes on stage and taps on the mic. The awards are also laid out in a long table on the side, and everyone's jittering with excitement. The first award is the best dressed among the females, and yes, her dress looks absolutely stunning and.. expensive.

“And the Male Best Dressed for tonight goes to..” There’s a dramatic drumroll, “Sam Anderson!”

Sam’s whoop is so loud that Harry physically pushes him away with a light laugh before playfully punching his shoulder. Sam looks pretty proud of himself, climbing on stage with a large grin.

“Louis’ gone.” Harry hears Liam whisper from his other side.

Harry looks at him, “Hm?” and he may or may not be pretending that it doesn’t bother him.

“He left, out to the field.” Liam informs. He’s eyeing Harry warily, but the latter just continues to look ahead and pretend to be silentl proud at the awardees, “Wanna go for him?”

This time, Harry looks at him. He fishmouths a little bit, contemplating, before he’s smiling and shaking his head, “No.” He turns back to the stage.

“You sure?”

“Liam.” Harry sighs.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

~○~

“I know, Mum.” Louis mumbles into the phone, “It’s about to be over in an hour or two. If not, I’ll probably just go home.”

“Why do you sound far, though? Shouldn’t it be loud in there?” Jay asks. Without the loud bass music, Louis hears him perfectly.

“I stepped outside to talk to you. I’ll be back inside.” Louis says, leaning back against the step behind him, “I gotta go, Zayn’s looking for me.” He hangs up and tosses his phone beside him. He gazes atthe dark sky. The stars are barely there anymore, just a quarter moon decorating it. It’s quite dark out in the field as well, but thankfully the lights inside provide.

“What are you doing out here?” Louis jumps and he looks to his left. He sees Harry standing there by the closed gym doors.

“Uh..” Louis stutters, “I.. called my mum. I was about to go, though.” He stands but makes no move to step down the rest of the steps of the bleachers. He watches as Harry come closer to him yet remain his distance. He climbs the bleacher before he sits down a few meters away from Louis.

Louis sits back down, “How about you? What are you doing here?”

Harry clasps his hands and rests them over his knee, “I couldn’t find someone to talk to.”

Louis nods silently, facing the field once again. It’s a beat before they speak at the same time,

“Listen, Louis.”

“Listen, Harry.”

They release a puff of air as they realize. Louis gets it first, “About that .. conversation we had.. I-I still mean it.” He squeezes his eyes closed, not ready to look at Harry, “But I won’t pressure you at all, I promise.” He takes courage and finally looks. Harry’s looking back at him, “Just know that I’d always be waiting for you.”

He can’t read Harry’s expression, until Harry eventually nods, “Okay.” He says.

“Okay.” Louis nods, “I guess..” He fidgets with his thumb, “This is goodbye? For now?”

Harry doesn’t answer for a moment, but then he’s nodding again, “Yeah.”

“Say something?” Louis pleads quietly, too quietly.

The numbers of seconds are gradually increasing, and to be honest it heightens his anxiety just.. in a big amount. Louis shifts, about to say he should leave when Harry chooses to speak.

“This isn’t our time, Louis.” He says, staring out into the field, “Not yet, at least.” He looks at Louis. The latter doesn’t get to reply because suddenly Harry’s standing up and walking down the steps. Louis watches his retreating figure, and his heart aches as Harry doesn’t look back or stop before he disappears back inside.

~○~

“Congratulations Graduates!” The principal cheers, clapping his hands and soon everyone’s tossing their caps and not even bothering to pick them up as they rush to their friends and family. Harry squeals as he hugs his mum and sister, who went home to catch this very proud event.

“I’m so proud of you, honey.” Anne kisses his hair.

“Harry!” Harry pulls back and grins as he sees Liam and Sam walking towards them. He gives them each a hug, pulling back to ask, “We graduated!”

Sam lets out a dramatic sigh, his hands on his hips as he looks at the building of his school, “My first and last school year.”

Liam chuckles and pushes at him playfully. He turns back to Harry, “I think I gotta go, I’m gonna find my parents.”

“Me too!” Sam pipes in, “Goodbye, my friend. Stay in contact!” They leave quite enthusiastically, soon finding their parents.

“Hm,” Gemma raises an eyebrow, “I’m still expecting someone to come over.”

Harry rolls his eyes, “That’s not going to happen anytime soon.” He realizes that Gemma is alone and his mother is nowhere to be found, “Where’s mum?”

Gemma’s looking over his shoulder, a smirk playing on her lips, “She’s either going to make or ruin your day.”

Harry turns, and shit, is she serious? Harry’s sure he’s going to have an anneurysm. She’s got her ultra bestfriend, Jay, and of course Louis is there following closely behind. Alright, so their last conversation went...good? But come on.

“Harry!” Jay greets, pulling him into a hug. Harry smiles and rubs her back in response. She pulls away, and it’s like happiness is radiating off of her, “Congratulations! What college are you going to?”

“Oh uh..” Harry nervously chuckles, “I’m still choosing over my options, but probably somewhere near here.”

“How about you, Louis?” Anne asks, linking a proud arm with Harry’s.  
“Still searching.” Louis laughs lightly as well.

“Oh, Anne, darling, we’re having...—“ Jay starts and Harry starts to zone out, rolling on the balls of his feet with his hands behind his back.

“So..” He hears someone say, and when he looks up he sees Louis smiling at him. It’s the first time he initiated a conversation, “I hope it all goes well for you.”

Harry feels himself smile, “You, too.”

“Uh..” Louis gives him a shy smile, raising his arms in the air and stepping a little closer.

Harry chuckles, “Okay, come here.” He hugs Louis around his shoulders, with Louis around his torso. He can smell Louis’ cologne, and the softness of his hair tickles his chin a little bit. He feels Louis’ face on his neck, and he feels his arms squeeze much tighter before he lets go. They both let go.

“So uh..” Louis breathes, “See you when I see you.”

Harry nods, “Yeah.

“Alright!” Jay claps her hand, her smile still happy, “We better go. See you around.” As the two begin to walk away, Harry sighs. Gemma nudges him, “You alright?”

Harry turns to look at her before he smiles, “Yeah, yeah of course.”

~○~

“You’re sure you’re going to be okay?” Jay asks, wiping her tears and nose. They’re standing in front of Louis’ college and he supposes it’s a warm welcome. The day is beautiful, and yes, this is a new beginning.

Louis chuckles and hugs her again, “I am, Mum. You know you’re going to show up at work looking awful when you continue to cry.”

“I’m just emotional.” Louis sniffles, “But okay, I’m going to be late.” She squeezes him before letting go, “Text me when you get to your dorm, okay?”

“Okay, Mum.” Louis chuckles. She watches her get into her car before she waves, sending out a kiss before she drives away. Louis grabs her suitcase before he starts to walk inside the building. There are really new faces, and there’s even a few he recognises from his high school batch. His dorm room and schedule has been emailed to him a week bored, so all he should do is to locate that dorm so he can start unpacking.

“Tomlinson?” Louis hears just as he ascends from the stairs with a slight struggle with his suitcase. He looks up and sees Niall.

“Horan!” Louis grins and walks over, “Who knew, huh?”

“You never told me you’re going here!” Niall pushes at his shoulder lightly. He then stares at Louis with this smirk on his face, “Oh, man.”

Louis raises an eyebrow, “What? Feel nostalgic already? It’s already been like three months.”

Niall seems to ignore him because he suddenly laughs, “You’re gonna love this school. I just know it.”

“Uh..—“ Louis watches as Niall walks past him, his laughter following him before he completely disappears.

Louis laughs to himself, “Weirdo.”

There are a few people in the hallway, C3, and one of these rooms are supposed to be Louis’, and his roommate. He hopes to God his roommate doesn’t do shit. He walks through the hallway slowly, looking at every door to find the right number. Once he gets to like the 5th door, he sighs. He looks up to check how many rooms left when he freezes.  
He must be dreaming, or he must be having a heart attack. Because what the fuck? What did he ever do to deserve this? To have Harry Styles standing at the end of the freaking hallway, looking back at him with the same amount of surprise on his face.

Before anyone knows it, they’ve crossed the hallway and met in the middle, eyes still locked with each other.

“Uh..” Harry breaks the trance as he nervously laughs, scratching the back of his neck, “Oops, huh?”

Louis almost doesn’t hear it because Harry’s so beautiful and he can’t believe he once lost this boy. He can’t believe what shit he’s done to make himself believe that he didn’t want this person standing in front of him. Months without contact, a summer with no content and Louis still finds himself falling for this boy.

Louis doesn’t notice the tears in his eyes as he moves forward, wrapping his arms around Harry in a hug. He can almost almost feel Harry’s heartbeat against his chest. He squeezes so tight, but he pulls back just as fast, eyes wide and still teary. He stammers, “Hi.. H-Hi, Oh my God, hi.” He wipes his cheeks, and he feels how hot they are.

When he looks up, Harry is beaming down at him and yeah, he’s going to love this school as much as he loves this boy.

 


End file.
